Ok here is a new thread that will house most of the knowledge
about making tiki lights that through the years I have found, made up, dug up, ECT...
Not going to give up everything all at once.
And some I will keep to myself but in due time wish to post here.
Hope you like it and get something from it.
The TC / Tiki folks have been very cool to me so this is a small payback.

FIRST Electric:
You will need a Male plug rated for 120 volt 15 amp household current.
I try to get small ones made of rubber so they don't crack and are some what
water resistant. (see photo)(cost $2.30?)

You will allso need.
A socket, and wire. (Cost two sockets $4.67//// Wire $60.00 250 foot roll)
The socket shown is called a Candelabra base, The bulbs that go in them are
the C7 Christmas type light bulb and come in 4 watt and 7 watt you can get clear
or many other colors.
You can also use 15 to 25 watt exit lights that are clear in this size if you need more light.
Remember keep the wattage down if you can, this will save money and lower watt bulbs burn with
less heat, and less heat will make your light bulbs last longer plus less fire hazard.

The wire I use is 18 gauge flexible lamp cord brown, it is also called zip cord or just lamp cord.
As you can see I buy in bulk this costs a lot less you can get a roll like this at Grangers.
But I think you need to have a bussiness with tax ID to shop there.
You can get this cord at hardware stores it will cost more though, see if they will give a cost break
for buying a full roll.
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"Roses are red, these floats are blue, Send me some money and they belong to you"..."TIKISKIP"

Ok let's move on.
You need to find the length cord you need.
Making the light set up lets you get the cord right to
the outlet you are using, and you don't need to settle
for a white cord.
Come on a white cord on a tiki light is a deal breaker. No white cords!
Now cut the ends of the wire and twist them so they are nice and neat.
Attach to the male plug and then the socket.
Make sure there are NO loose wires sticking out of the screw on the plug or the socket.
No need for a ground wire here.
See photos.
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"Roses are red, these floats are blue, Send me some money and they belong to you"TIKISKIP"

Questions??
Let me know here, or PM me.
Ask now so you can get it right.
I had a friend who I showed how to wire lights.
So he wired some and then some time later he asked me to come to his bar and change
some light bulbs.
Well I unpluged the lights to change the bulbs and he said
"WOW that's a good idea"
I said what? and he said unpluging the light.
Why is that I asked?
Because I got shocked when I touched it.
That SOB was going to let me get shocked! He called me there so he would not get shocked.
When I looked at the fixture the wire was crammed next to the screw and wires everywhere
and bolted down that way!
This guy was way too old to do this, I thought he would know better.
So Ask, get it right!
This first part here is the important stuff.
Anyone can build a light, and anyone can burn down their house doing so.
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TIKISKIP lights worldwide, "over 200 made" next one to you.

Never saw that Tim.
But then I buy those socekts 50 at a time so I don't get
the store packing most do.
But Tim refers to Electrical polarity, I don't know if that would make
a difference in a light fixture.
when I worked in the electric shop at OSU they never had us wire lights this way, in fact
the whole polerized wire thing came up in like the 80s?
That's why we have those plugs with the one prong that is fatter than the other.
Pain in the a$$ I say, all those years it was not a big deal.
But Tim is right, that's why you have the two screws that one is silver and one is brass.
Your wire is some times silver and one is brass as well.

Electrical polarityFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
Electrical polarity (positive and negative) is present in every electrical circuit. Electrons flow from the negative pole to the positive pole. In a direct current (DC) circuit, one pole is always negative, the other pole is always positive and the electrons flow in one direction only. In an alternating current (AC) circuit the two poles alternate between negative and positive and the direction of the electron flow continually reverses.

Back at it.
Just a few more electric bs and we will get to the baskets.
These are two other types of sockets you casn use for your lights
the first is a standard base or also called a medium base you know
the type you have in your lamps at home.
The other is a C9 base or socket like old school Christmass lights
you would put on your house.
These are fine too but on the standard base don't go over 45 watts on
your bulb size the heat from more watts is no good.
Plus colored blubs burn much hotter as they have a coat on.
There are all kinds of attachments for your sockets and power cords.
Like inline dimmers these are VERY cool! I got a Shag and the picture light
was way too bright so one of these dimmers did the trick.
Plus when you put a dimmer on a light it lasts longer.
This is called under rating the bulb if you look at what they call long life bulbs
you will see that the voltage for that bulb is 130 volts, well household voltage is 120
so under rating that by 10 volts = long life.
The dimmer does the same thing.
You can see the in line on off switch, plus the other socket adapters that let you put
other bulbs in other sockets.
Know what these things are so you can bring them out to make your project work better.
I've seen a ton of lights that would look much better with the right bulb or just
dimmed down a bit.

Hey that ones good to know.
But.. I never hang lights by the cord as I'm
sure it's a code violation.
Some of my lights do go in businesses.
I always have a loop or hanger of some sort
that you can put a chain on.
But that knot is still a good idea.
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TIKISKIP lights worldwide, "over 200 made" next one to you.

See chains are not so bad.
Even if you use a rattan chain
on a lite light it would help keep
a light hanging especially if a ladder
or some other thing gets hung up in the light and pulls on it.
The right chain will add to the look of the light and be safer.

I LOVE THIS THREAD. I'VE RE-WIRED LOTS OF FLOOR LAMPS FROM THE FORTIES BUT NEVER A HANGING LAMP. THIS IS NOW ON MY MUST DO LIST. THANKS TO EVERY ONE FOR ALL THE TIPS AND TO TIKISKIP FOR STARTING THIS. WENDY
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